The Crime Branch on Monday launched its own cyber cell to look into cyber crimes.

Earlier, there was only one cyber cell under the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police to deal with cyber crimes.

Complaints on cyber crimes have jumped by 128 per cent between 2011 and 2013, according to police data. In 2011, a total of 99 cases were registered under the IPC and the IT Act. The number went up to 226 in 2014.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravinder Yadav said a quantum increase in complaints like hacking of Facebook and Twitter accounts, fake email IDs, credit card frauds, abusive and defamatory emails had been observed and, therefore, to deal with such complaints effectively, a separate cyber cell was required.

“The evidence in such cases needs to be retrieved and analysed immediately. Since the evidence pertains to emails, websites, chat rooms, databases etc., and has to be traced to desktops, laptops and mobiles phones, it is imperative that the data is retrieved at the earliest and the prescribed procedure followed for its admissibility in courts,” he said.

The decision to set up the cyber cell came after investigations in several cases were delayed by lack of access to evidence including data from laptops, desktops, mobile phones, email accounts and logs of accused and complainants, sources said. The Crime Branch cyber cell will function from the Old Kotwali police station in Daryaganj. A 15-member team with two inspector-rank officers supervising them have been assigned to the wing.